One Like No Other
by L.E-Rae
Summary: The snow kept falling calmly down on us both… the moon still stared… The solid iced pond glistened… and the stars still shone… In his eyes, he sparkled… but that wasn't the only thing that twinkled that night… And suddenly my finger felt much heavier... !Lams! Modern Day AU! LOTS OF FLUFF! T because of minor sex references (I'm self-conscious)
1. Part 1- Christmas Eve

**Chapter 1- Christmas Eve**

 **(Alex's POV)**

I didn't need to look outside to know it was cold. Though my eyes were closed I could still see the way the beautiful, crystal snowflakes would trickle down upon the windowsill while I lay beneath the heavy, thick, winter sheets. The gales form the North Wind blew with a loud whistle through the almost unnoticeable gap in the oak windows where the winters, bright, white sun shone as a painful prick to my half-asleep eyes. Last night I must have forgotten to close the deep, red curtains that draped over a dark wood pole as the outside world felt a lot brighter than usual...

My eyes were too used to the dark that I shuffled deeper beneath the cream sheets reaching out for the live hot water bottle I snuggled up next to that previous night. So without displeasing my wishes I found him. I could feel his chest rise and fall gently almost in sync with his heartbeat. My hands ran up to his hair which was left down as we slept as it had many knots throughout his curled hair.

Slowly and reluctantly my eyes opened up in a blur to look at a pleasing sight of my partners face. His face was spotted with dark freckles that (unusually) dotted down as far as his shirtless chest. His face was tinged with a slight smile, even though he was still in a light sleep. The long eyelashes that curled from his (also freckled) eyelids, brushed at the underneath of his eyes- though they soon fluttered open with a long yawn until he noticed my gaze on his stunning features.

If this was happening seven years ago, I know for a fact we would have both looked, sharply away with our faces as hot as the sun. Though now, it was just normal. Instead of actions to look away embarrassed, we both just carried on that gaze longing to reach deep within the depths of our open eyes to one another. And that's exactly what we did in this moment.

His eyes were dark, though not even dark compared to mine, and had flecks of gold and luscious green embers sprinting about them. His pupils were wide and gaping but every time he blinked, they seemed to widen even more (maybe because of the the smile emerging from his lips). And I could only presume I was the the same.

"Alexander." He said with his wide grin affecting his tone.

"John." I copied his voice to a perfect match making him give out a chuckle- his eyes getting brighter. Before he spoke again his warm figure closed the gap between us. Our bodies pressed together fitted like a matching puzzle piece or the other half to a friendship necklace. Along with our legs that intwined together and our both bear chests which were pressed firmly against each other. His face was so close is could feel each calm breath being blown at my cheeks. I loved it.

"I hate to ruin this but don't we have somewhere to be?"

I wracked my mind to his question. My brain was still crowded with sleep so give me a break. Who would want to think logically without a coffee forehand? So to hide my concussion instead I closed the gap between our lips. Though this was an everyday thing, it still wasn't any less important or magical. He was soft on the skin and at heart. The same could be said for his silky soft, brown, curly locks that now had themselves laced around my fingers. Through his breaths that merged with my own, I could hear the soft moans of pleasure he took from this kiss. I admit there were _many_ more that were a lot more intense than this one, though I speak for us both when I say that it all meant exactly the same to us. Each casting as a loving memory that we replayed throughout the hard days- and the good ones.

Eventually, we broke from it. It must have only been a few seconds though (like usual) felt like a life time.

"No," I started with a grin spread wide across both our faces, "I don't recall being anywhere other than here. And I don't recall wanting to be anywhere but here."

He gave out a breathy chuckle, "Fine then. Do you at least remember what day it is?"

I needed _coffee_ to think straight. I wasn't a wizard!

 _Fine. Fine. Fine. Think Alex... Think!_

"December 24th?" I replied generally confused.

"Good. And what do you remember about today?"

 _Think Alex, THINK!_

"Oh come on Jacky! You know I can't think without my coffee!" I moaned making him laugh softly and quietly as if he was trying not wake up some unseen force.

"Fine! Do you want me to break it to you?" He rolled his eyes.

"Please do!"

He sighed, "Does late Christmas shopping ring a bell at all?"

 _Crap._

I could practically feel my pupils get smaller and my stomach drop.

 _How the hell could I forget this?_

My body shot up out of his grip and I panicked looking around the room for an answer I didn't even have a question for. But he just laughed. My body leapt out of bed leaving just my ear chest and jogger, covered bottom half exposed to the room. I dashed to the dresser almost knocking over a few photos that that stood recently polished on top. He only laughed more but piled calmly out of bed even leaving time to click his sleepy joints. My arms made a mad dash for my deodorant, boxers, socks, a white buttoned shirt and some dark green trousers. During this however, he just stood and stared at me, finally speaking though I already knew what he was going to say...

"I told you we shouldn't have left it so late!"

I just rolled my eyes and tried to hide the smile that was plastered to my face. In one way or another... he was _always_ right.

"Yeah... whatever..." I mumbled pulling on my trousers (this completing the bottom of my outfit) but he just laughed again, turning away to pick out deodorant, boxers, socks, a plain white T-Shirt, a dark denim jacket with some matching slim jeans.

"Oh and Alexander..." He said speaking over his shoulder as he turned away to pull off his night wear.

"Yes?" I replied.

"You've got your shirt on inside out."

And he was right again (like always).

"T-Thanks..." I stuttered and sprinted to the bathroom. Quickly I combed through my hair (leaving it down today), splashed my face with water and scrubbed my teeth with a mint flavour. Within three minutes I dashed back out the door I came in leaving for John to finish up with his routine.

For a couple who were only twenty-six (me) and twenty-nine (John) our house was quite a good one. It had two floors, two bedrooms, a bathroom, a study, a living room, a kitchen and a fairly big garden with a larger fig tree planted in the centre. I loved our house. I really did. We only bought it five years ago after two years of being together (still not engaged though). But buying it was one of the best things I had ever done. I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

As soon as I stumbled into the kitchen I flicked on the coffee machine with two cups already underneath it and reached for the bread which I then popped into the toaster. Penny (our brown Springer Spaniel) jumped at my feet with delight. I fussed over her and got her food ready to then place it outside the door in the garden (she always ate it out there). Normally I would have watched her bounce happily about the gardens grass but today I was in a rush so I closed the door behind her and the freezing air.

Instead of waiting for the toast to pop up or wait for the water to boil I quickly ran for a pencil and paper to write down what we needed to do today. So I looked back up at the clock.

 ** _08:09_**

Okay... We could do this... Right?

I tapped the pencil against my head trying to wake up my brain before I drank the coffee and let my mind spill to the pages.

 _Xmas Shopping List:_

 _Food:_

 _Turkey_

 _Sprouts_

 _Carrots_

 _Stuffing_

 _Gravy_

 _Potatoes_

 _Peas_

 _Swede_

 _Cabbage_

 _Beer_

 _Nuts_

 _Crisps_

 _Chocolate_

 _Lemon Meringue Ingredients:_

 _White Flour_

 _Salt_

 _Unsalted Butter_

 _Caster Sugar_

 _Eggs_

 _Cornflour_

 _Lemons_

I sighed getting the food aspect out of the way and ran to the now finished coffee picking it up and embracing its warmth down my throat. Then John popped around the door, still with a smile on his face.

"I've got you a coffee." I said pointing to other mug.

"Thanks." He said and walked over to it's position when the toast popped back up.

"Ah, sorry, could you get that I need to finish this list." I indicated to the toaster along with the butter next to it.

"Sure!" He replied without hesitation leaving me to walk back to the list.

 _Presents:_

But that's where I stopped. I had to think. But why should I have to think? This was meant to be the easy part!

"John..." I hesitantly said as he sat down next to me with the toast on a plate.

"Yes..." He replied confused.

"Who should we get presents for?"

"Haha! Oh my lord Alex!" He laughed uncontrollably, "Your so predictable!" With this I started to laugh too. It was something I'd do along with leaving things to last minute and having a really bad time judgment.

"Please help!" I begged.

"Fine! Fine! Let me think... Okay... Well we've got Penny and Squirt- wait a second." He got up and walked to the turtle tank sat on the other end of the table and started to feed his turtle, Squirt. I wasn't so keen on having that turtle in the house at first but eventually warmed up to the idea. I mainly did it for John though. I was _definitely_ a dog person. "You did feed Penny, didn't you Alex?"

"Yeah."

"Good." He returned back to the table. "Well, we have Penny, Squirt... Ah yes, Angelica and Burr. Eliza and Maria. Peggy and Lafayette Ha! I can't believe you forgot your own brother!"

"Yeah, yeah keep going then!"

"Fine... Your parents, George and Martha..."

"Ah yes... Okay... Oh and Herc."

"Yep! And James and Thomas!"

I groaned. "I can't believe you invited those guys!"

"Hey! James is my my friend but I guess he had to bring his boyfriend with him as well..."

"Yeah I guess..."

"Do you think that's all?"

I picked back up the list in my hands, "Yep, I think that's everyone. But... are you sure you don't want to get your parents something this year?"

"Yes. I'm sure."

"Okay then... Now... Do have any ideas what we should get them? I mean, Penny could have a bone and Squirt could have a new plant..."

"Well, I know Eliza wanted a new paint set this year! And I think Maria would like a new bracelet?"

"Okay, good. I think George would like that new edition of "Politics Today" and Martha a gardening set."

"That sounds good! I think Ange would like some new sewing pins and Burr maybe a new, leather note book?"

"Yes! Oh and James would definitely like a new handkerchief and Jefferson... Maybe a cook book?"

"Sure. I mean, you know them better than I do! Ooh! I know what to get Herc!"

"Okay... Speak up!"

I gave a devilish smirk... "Well we're going to need Laf's help but... This should be good..."

"Come on spill!"

"Well you know how Laf did photography in the summer?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, he also took pictures of _horses_..."

"Alexander Hamilton, you are crewel man. But... it will be brilliant!"

Herc had had a thing for Laf for years but, Laf had found Peggy... At first I remember Herc being torn apart but a few years ago started to find joy in watching his friend be happy so we all left him to it. Over time, he started to just not have any romantic feelings for anyone until he decided to come-out as aromantic. Personally, I think he will find love one day but for now I will just keep my mouth shut. Whatever life has install for him, will be what he gets so there's no point in worrying about it.

"Alas, I admit it. Though I think we should get him something else as well... Like a horse riding book?"

"Sure... Now for Pegs I think we should get her joke-kit and Laf an English phrases book!"

"Yeah! They'll love that!"

"Alex... Can I ask... Why are our gifts usually books?"

"Heh, I don't know!" We laughed and looked back down on the list.

 _Xmas Shopping List:_

 _Food:_

 _Turkey_

 _Sprouts_

 _Carrots_

 _Stuffing_

 _Gravy_

 _Potatoes_

 _Peas_

 _Swede_

 _Cabbage_

 _Beer_

 _Nuts_

 _Crisps_

 _Chocolate_

 _Lemon Meringue Ingredients:_

 _White Flour_

 _Salt_

 _Unsalted Butter_

 _Caster Sugar_

 _Eggs_

 _Cornflour_

 _Lemons_

 _Presents:_

 _Penny- a bone_

 _Squirt- a new plant_

 _Angelica- sewing pins_

 _Burr- leather note book_

 _Eliza- new paints set_

 _Maria- Bracelet_

 _Peggy- joke kit_

 _Lafayette- English phrases book._

 _George- "Politics Today" book_

 _Martha- "Gardening Set"_

 _Hercules- the_ _ **surprise**_ _and a horse riding book._

 _James- Handkerchief_

 _Thomas- Cookbook_

"Do you think this is good?" I asked finishing off the last of my coffee and toast.

"Yes. They're going to love it!" After copying my actions he leaned in for a peck. Short, sweet but meant exactly the same.

"Okay Jack, I'll clean the pots if you grab all the bags, money, keys and let Penny back in?"

"Deal." He said rushing to the back door. I turned on the tap to let the warm, bubbly water run down on my fingers and within a few minutes the pots were washed, dried and put back where they belong.

"Nice job Alex." I muttered to my self before running to find my boots, winter coat, hat, scarf and Johns too. John was already waiting in the car trying to sort out the heating while I rushed I beside him into the drivers seat.

"I've got you an early Christmas present..." I teased throwing his wooly gear at him before buckling in my seat belt.

"Thank you and I have you something too." He chuckled waving my phone in my face.

 _Oh yeah..._

"Heheh... Thanks..." I chuckled back before setting off down the icy road. John stuck on the radio where all you heard was the Christmas songs that made the artists rich for a life time as they were played so much. He absolutely loved these cheesy songs but me... I wasn't so keen... I only really had them on because he liked them though music never really bothered me so I didn't actually care. For about five minutes into the drive we were left in a comfortable silence- me just focussing on the road and he staring out at the streets lined with magical lights, decorations and trimmings. Nearly every single house at at least something to celebrate. Heck- even one house had so many lights, you couldn't see the brick work! Our house however was just normal. We had some flashing white lights hung around the gutter and in the tall conifer bush on the front lawn. Our door had a real holy wreath (specially made by Martha for us) that hung nicely in the centre of the green wood. Though that was about it. Inside though had a real, tall Christmas Tree with flashing lights and sparkling baubles hanging of individual branches all around its needles. Plus, along windowsills and banisters, we had silver tinsel either wrapping around them or sitting upon them. It's crazy how we had our tree up at the beginning of the month except we left our shopping to THE DAY BEFORE CHRISTMAS! Though... I can only blame myself...

"John..." I started breaking the silence, "Are you sure you don't want me to get you a present this year?"

Though I didn't take my eyes away from the road, I could tell he started to drift his gaze to his lap like he always did when he was uncomfortable. But out the corner of my eye I could see a small smile grace his face and... a blush? Wow. I hadn't seen _that_ in years.

"Y... Yes Alex. I don't need anything this year. I promise."

"Are you sure?" I asked again politely.

"Yes." He answered very confidently.

"Okay..."

"Ooh, I like this one!" He laughed and turned up the volume on the radio so, "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree" was playing and jingling around the mental frame of car. His body bounced to the beat and (I have to admit) I couldn't resist to tap my fingers on the stirring wheel as I drive farther towards the towns centre.

Along the way we occasionally had small talk or discussed shopping strategies but mostly sat with the radio filling our comfortable silence until I pulled up in a parking space just outside the centre. The traffic _was_ quite bad in all fairness. Though there was something about today that just abolished any negative emotion in the air... It all seemed... right...

"Okay, so I think we should get the food out the way first." John suggested whist fixing his wooly hat.

"Good plan and where do you think we should get this out the way at?" I chuckled.

"Aldi?" He replied with his eyebrows still in thought.

"Sounds good!" I took his spear hand in mine and locked the car. "Lets do this."

Many years ago at the start of our relationship, we were always so afraid to show our affection in public. Which was ridiculous. Not because we were fearful, no, it's ridiculous because it's been years and people still can't accept anyone other than straight. I mean, what's the difference? We're all human! We just have different love interests! But I don't need to get started on that... I'd be here for _hours_ with a rant that would _never_ get boring.

But now us two honestly couldn't care less what other asses thought of us. In fact, I few weeks ago we had kissed in a park and an elderly couple had shouted at us for (and I quote), _"being dirty fags"_. So we just gave a full on, passionately kiss to each other and couldn't stop laughing afterwards.

Through the street, each shop had lights up and decorations scattering the windows either with tinsel, or products that need to be sold before Christmas. If I was honest, I had expected there to be less people who this unorganised (like me) but the paths were crowded with couples frantically darting to get to new shops or to collect the last bits of the Christmas lunch. Mainly parents though.

Christmas was always foreseen to be a happy joyous time of year- for children... But if you look a little deeper, it is really stressful and worrying. I guess me and John will learn that eventually. I mean, if we even _have_ kids.

Wow. That thought hadn't ever really crossed my mind before. I mean, I had always loved the idea of settling down with him but looking this deep into things was something new... but... I liked it...

I squeezed against his arm tighter as the wind blew even stronger against us. It was a proper, winter stream of air and it sent shivers down our spines- I could actually feel his shake in the gales. The snow fell light last nights but it still crunched beneath the sole of my boot whenever I took another step towards the shop that now appeared in the distance. My gloved hands fumbled around my coat pockets trying to reach for the list we scrawled out this morning.

"Do you have the time?" I asked rereading the list again.

"Sure it's... 08:49" He replied back after checking his phone.

"Okay..." I said deep I thought. "Because we have to also see Laf, wrap presents, write cards, prepare the Meringue, visit my parents for lunch _and_ organise the times we're meant to meet tomorrow plus because all the shops now close at four, I think we should split up to tackle the food shopping."

"Okay. Sooner we get this done, quicker we can get this back home!"

"Here we go!" I laughed with his adorable laugh.

 _My god he's so cute._

"Okay so you take half the food, and I'll take the other half, yeah? And we could meet back at the car when we're done?"

"Sounds good _mi amor_." He winked.

"Heh. I'll see you on the other side." I chuckled and gazed longingly into his breath-taking, flecked, ember eyes.

"Oh before you go... One, it might help if you have these..." He handed out my phone and my credit card. "And two, I may need that half of the list."

Oops.

"Y... Yeah, sorry." I stammered but gave an apologetic chuckle after it. I carefully ripped the list in half giving him the side with all the baking on. "I'll see you at the car then _mi dulce._ "

"Can't wait _miel_." Again with the wink.

We parted our ways in the shop taking a trolley each. We agreed that we'd stick to the list but grab other items if we think they were vital. Though nothing really stood out that much for me. Faster than I expected, the list grew shorter and shorter without any delays until... I reached the turkey isle... It was completely empty... Nothing whatsoever...

 _Dammit._

Though I kinda had it coming... I would sort it out though... John doesn't have to know... Has has already done so much today... All because of my disorganisation... I could do this by myself... right?

I exited the shop with the bags weighing my arms down so they almost stretched out of my normal position. I huffed and made my way back through the crowded, brightly lit up, streets. I didn't take in much of that because there was no spark to the moment... Josh wasn't here...

The car door opened with an electric click and I piled in the luggage but sat back in the car awaiting John. I didn't want to hurry him so I just sat with the faint hum of the radio dancing in the background while I jotted down some notes for my work.

Burr and I worked as Lawyers to defend clients under an extreme accusation of law. It was quite time consuming to say the least, but I did enjoy it. John, however, worked as a vet at the local town clinic as a surgeon (but his main passion was art and he was darn good it!). Lafayette (my adoptive brother) worked as a French teacher at a local High School and his girlfriend- Peggy- was a host for children's parties. Angelica worked on the press to collect stories for the newspaper whilst Maria worked as an actual news reporter on the TV (she wasn't very well known though). Eliza worked at a care home to take care of foster children and help them like a mother (which kind of helps her as she and Maria can never have their own children together). My adoptive parents (George and Martha Washington) worked in Law as well. Martha was a Lawyer (like Burr and I) and George was the Captain of his Police department. Herc also worked at the same school as Lafayette but as a Gym and Textiles teacher (odd combination I know). As for James and Thomas, I think from what John had said, James owned a Bakery around this area actually but Jefferson... I couldn't give one what he did.

It must have been over twenty minutes before I heard the knocking from the window which dazzled me out of my writing spree. It was John.

"Open up! It's freezing out here!" I heard him laugh, muffled by the glass.

"Only if you kiss me!" I yelled back at him.

"Trust me! I promise would but the stupid glass is in the way!" He shouted back with a cloud of frozen smoke.

"Fine!" I laughed back at him and opened up the locks on the door.

"Finally! I was dying out there!" He chuckled slamming the door closed after dropping off the bags in the back.

"Come on... Pay up." I barely had a chance to pout before he thrusted he smooth lips against my own. It was fierce that it could have started a fire. He leant all of his weight over me almost knocking me over with force. On instinct I ran my fingers through his scalp and he squeezed my cheeks tightly against my face in an almost compression. His lips started to part letting his tongue push though and lock around my own. We couldn't get enough of this amazing sensation building up in side us. It was more addictive than any sort of drug could ever have been. Something must have washed over him to course him to go this into it- not that I was complaining. Though all too soon he retreated away breathless- and I mirrored it.

"Wow. You really went for it then." I laughed still regaining breaths with his forehead still pressed against my own.

"Well you really loved it didn't you." He laughed back inching closer to my lips again. Our eyes both flattered shut before pressing down hard on one last kiss.

"I think we should start finishing that list." I winked, "And start finishing _this_ off later."

He laughed and sat back in his seat buckling in the seatbelt.

"So," He started, "should we head up to the high street to get the gifts?"

"Sounds good."

Christmas shopping was always a boring thing you had to do... unless you had someone else with you... And with John, nothing was ever a bore! We had finished collecting all the gifts for our friends (with the exception of Herc's horse photos but we were heading over to Laf and Peggy's now).

As we entered the car we were breathless either from running or laughing too much.

We had met some homophobic men along the way back up here who ranted to us on ho _w "it was gross to hold another mans hand"_ but me and John just looked together in disbelief, almost pitying the man. So almost as if it were rehearsed, we both landed a long, heavy kiss to another's lips, heaving to fight the urge to let our tongues tie in the middle. This (like usual) infuriated the men but we pushed down the heavy laughs bubbling inside the pit of our stomach as we picked back up the bags and made our way back to the car... Though I couldn't help but make things worse, could I?

Instead of walking beside John to leave there outrageous yells behind us, no... I ran back up to the man and spoke in a formal marred as I quote,

 _"I'm sorry for an inconvenience Sir's, though if I am to be honest, don't you think that it's a little immature how you get so infuriated by how loves who?"_

Johns loud wails of laughter could most likely be heard from the other side of the world while I tried best to keep a straight face- immensely failing. I turned back away and blew a loud kiss towards them, winked and sprinted back to John who then practically dragged me away from this hilarious mess we created. I dare not look back to check if they were running after us but even that fear couldn't suppress our balls of laughter.

"Your terrible, you know that?" He laughed and collapsed in the seat next to me.

"I know, yet you still stick around with me!" I gave a flirtatious wink back to him.

"Yeah, well that might change if don't get a peddle on it!"

Immediately I started the up car and headed in the direction of Laf and Peggy's apartment.

It was nearly always me driving- but I didn't mind. It made me feel in control... In power. John _did_ know how to drive but always liked being laid back and in charge of the radio. Even when we went out to party's or just to the bar to hang out with some friends, I was still the one to drive back- mainly because I could only manage a few beers whereas John could probably drink the whole bar if he got the chance. The only time he has ever really needed to drive was was on his driving test or five years ago when I broke my arm while putting up some Christmas lights. And (like always) he told me not to go too high though (like always) I didn't listen. But instead of running to help me, he just stood there, laughed and said, _"I told you so."_.

It wasn't funny at the time, but when I looked back on it, I couldn't help but chuckle.

"Alex! Your going to miss the turn!" John shouted from beside me and in instinct I gave a sharp swerve to the left earning many angry shouts and car horn beeps- but... I deserved it...

"Heh..." I gave out a nervous chuckle not wanting to meet his smirking eyes.

This was in fact the street where Laf and Pegs lived. I parked up on the side of the road and we both made our way up the drive. Of course making this harder than it should have been, the two lived on the twelfth floor plus the lift was broken so we trudged up the staircase to room 306. Breathless, we knocked on the door but didn't have to wait a second before our familiar favourite FrenchFry was opening up.

"Bonjour mom amie!" He exclaimed with a bubbly enthusiasm, Peggy just trailing behind him.

"You NEVER told us about the lift!" John laughed breathless at him before falling dramatically onto the French man.

"Nice to see you too?" Peggy made out from the hallway.

"Yeah..." I chuckled nervously before picking John back up off the poor baguette.

"Well, come on in then!" The also bubbly girl gestured to the living room. Peggy and Laf were very festive- if that's an understatement. The tree sparkled to a perfection, each room was laced with lights AND tinsel all around. The usually white rugs were replaced with green and red patterns while the couple both wore jumpers with the same colours.

"Wow." I gaped in awe. "You guys went even more crazy this year! If that were even possible!"

"Oui, well we're hoping to top Herc this year. Hopefully this has done it? Non?"

"I think you've got a fighting chance!" John replied with a contagious laughter for the whole room to pick up.

"So what brings you here so soon?" Pegs chimed in before going to grab some water.

"Well..." I looked at John trying to suppress our laughter with a cough. "We was wondering if we could have a picture the of horses you took last summer?"

"Sure..." He said reaching for the photo album conveniently perched on the counter. "What do you need it for?"

"Erm..." John hesitated and looked at me for an answer I didn't have. "Just for some... business..."

I laughed and the confused faces of the others wasn't making it any easier.

"Is... Is that all you need?" Laf asked a little giddy. I was about to answer though John beat me to it... with something I'd never expect...

"No... I... Laf... C-Can I talk to you?"

"Oui!" He jumped up at an instant and dragged John away into another room...

Weird...

Me and Peggy just stood silently not making eye contact until she offered me the water that was held in her hand. I needed it.

"Shall we sit?" She suggested and I followed.

"Do you know what that's about?" I asked taking another sip of the water.

"No clue... Laf's has been acting weird this past week but always says, _"You'll find out soon enough"_ I just put it down to his usual, playful behaviour. Though now Johns involved, I'm not so sure..."

I let out a silent _"Oh"_ taking more water. But then I recalled a crisis I may be able to avoid while John was away...

"Peggy..." In trailed off, "I know it's really late notice but... Would you have a spare turkey?"

"Haha! Oh my lord Alex! Leaving it a little late aren't we?" He giggled suppressing something bigger. My eyes refused to look at hers and I just smiled with guilt.

"Well," She spoke heading towards the kitchen, "you're lucky that I thought a head! I knew you'd forget something as big as this silly!"

It was true.

"So do you have one?" I asked again.

"Even though we're all at your tomorrow, I bought two in advance. So consider this as a one off!"

"Oh my gosh Pegs!" I sighed in relief and ran to her wrapping her in a hug, "You're a life saver!"

"I know!" She joked, "And I presume you haven't told John your mistake?"

"Mmhmm... Yeah..."

"Okay then, you take these two down to the car and I'll tell them you had to rush off. I'll get John to join you."

"Thanks Pegs. You really are a life saver."

"And I really know I am! But this comes at a price..."

"Oh? And that is?"

"I don't know... But be prepared when it does come back to bite you!"

I laughed and smiled wide at her. The two limps of meat were balanced in my arms as I made my way towards the door. "Again, thanks Pegs!"

"It's fine!" We gave one last glance and she waved me down the stairwell.

Coming out of an apartment with two large turkeys in your arms must have looked extremely odd, so I understood the glances I got while making my way to the car.

I hid the turkeys the shopping bags, covering up my mistake.

My legs returned me to the drivers seat and I buckled in the belt. I took out the list and started to make a new one...

 _To Do List:_

 _Do shopping -_ _ **DONE**_

 _Visit Laf and Peggy-_ _ **DONE**_

 _Go to lunch with my parents-_

 _Prepare the Meringue-_

 _Wrap presents-_

 _Write cards-_

 _Take Penny for a walk-_

 _Go to sleep-_

That last one was added just for fun because why not? I turned the radio onto a small hum whilst I await John to join me. What he did up there was strange... What on earth was it he needed to talk about? Even Peggy noticed some off behaviour between those two this past week. The questions were eating away at me almost as if they were starved. I want to ask him about it... though I didn't want to invade his privacy... But hang on one second! Weren't we a _couple_? For over _seven years_? This wasn't right... What did he have to hide from me?

"Sorry I took a while..." He spoke snapping me away from the eating questions.

"That's fine..." Should I ask? Ah, screw it! "What did you want to talk to him about?"

I could tell he didn't want to answer that but knew the question was coming anyway.

"I..." He started but then chuckled to himself letting a smirk spread across his lips. "You'll find out soon enough..."

 _Hmm..._

 ** _"No clue... Laf's has been acting weird this past week but always says, "You'll find out soon enough" I just put it down to his usual, playful behaviour. Though now Johns involved, I'm not so sure..."_**

Odd...

"Okay... sure..." I said starting back up the engine. We both knew that this was going to bug me for the rest of the day... Though I think he'd find it entertaining...

"What time is it, Jack?" I asked breaking the hum of the regular songs.

"11:56."

"Good." I muttered to myself calculating the rest of the day a head. "Well, it's time to go to George and Martha's for lunch so next so after that we can head hope to finish everything else off?"

"You know your right." He smiled.

"Hey! Your the one who's always right! Remember?"

"Oh? So he finally admits it after seven years?" He teased. "Hmm. I could get used to that... Hang on! We should have got that on video also with a signed document right there... Ooh! Maybe you should present that to a whole crowd! Or-"

"Okay! Okay! You'll get your video soon enough!"

We both burst with giggly laughter blocking out the radio even more. Even though I was driving, I knew he couldn't resist the urge to peck my cheek and warm up my right hand on the gear stick.

"Te amo." I said leaning towards him farther.

"Yo también te amo." He sighed back watching the world fly by along the white streets, festive houses and joyous families.

 _"I love you"_ , wasn't enough words to hold the true feelings meant behind it. The "I" stood for how you used to stand alone before that person brought colour and meaning to your life. They were the reason you are who you were today and it's a debt you can only pay back with being around them for as long as you can. The word "Love" was in the perfect place in the sequence- though not many got past this stage... This was the next step to a future. Like a butterfly breaking free and expressing the once before unseen beauty of its wings spread high toward the sky. Your heart sped up faster as you were around them- though didn't cause your skin to heat... That was _"lust"_... Something fake... A blush is still significant however... It marks the start of a bud on a awaiting bloom of a flower. But as the months pass by, you shouldn't feel the need for heat on your face because you shouldn't feel embarrassed around them. Everything should be normal and calm for them... Or maybe you even thought this at the start... Everyone was different... The "You" was the last puzzle piece to this confusing emotion. It stood for how the other one showed that they too felt happy to be there. They would also be committed, loyal and loving as an equal. But the best bit is because the love you for you. It didn't matter if you were gay, straight, poly, lesbian, _love_ was always there and this just proves that you can't help who you fell in love with. So John... I love you.

"Thank you so much for this! It was delicious!" John exclaimed politely to Martha who was collecting in the empty plates.

"You're very welcome John! It was a pleasure! And it was the least we could do after we had to decline you offer to join you tomorrow." Martha spoke sweetly to him.

"That's fine! It means less to cook for!" He joked making all of us laugh together.

"So are you all packed for the trip tomorrow?" I questioned helping clear the table.

"Yep! Though I promise we'll pop round before we leave." George's deep, warm voice blessed the room.

"So have you been very busy today?" Martha questioned.

"I think busy is an understatement!" John joked again. "Because _somebody_ insisted that we leave it for last minute!" He laughed glancing my way.

"That's Alex alright!" Martha laughed with him.

I raised my hands in a mock surrender, "Hey! What can I say, I thought we would have had it all sorted!"

"That's what you said last year! And the year before that!" John stated the truth.

"Okay, okay fine! So I'm disorganised! I admit it!" I chuckled.

After stating my flaws, we all went to the living room and chatted for a long while until the clock chimed for four o'clock so I reluctantly had to break the news...

"I'm sorry to end this but I think we have to get back... We still have lots to do."

"Yeah... Nice to see you though!" John said reaching out to hug them both.

We made it to the door before reaching for my coat and shoes but John didn't seem to follow... Instead he shocked me to the bone again and asked hesitantly,

"I... Erm... Can I speak to you, George for a minute?"

That question again. What was it with him today? My god!

"Sure, son." He said intrigued. Well, who wouldn't be?

The two walked to the corner of the room out of ear shot. Where Martha wondered like me, deep into thought.

"Do you know what that's about?" She asked.

"I have no clue. He did it again today with Lafayette. Even Peggy has no clue what's going on." I asked looking at the bright, cheek throbbing smiles they were both sharing.

"I'm sure it will be fine Ali." She smiled and hugged me close. This family was extremely good to me throughout my childhood. They adopted me when I was four-teen and Laf when he was eight (though when I arrived Laf had already been living with threw for years). My past is what some might call... traumatic... The only people who knew about it were the Washington's, John, Laf and Eliza. But even then we _never_ talked about. The only reason I planned to share this with these people was they either had a past similar to mine (like John), were family or it slipped out (Eliza). All of them kept their mouths closed though and I was glad about that. It was in the past so there was no need to dig it back up again.

After they had finished their little _'exchange'_ , John waddled over with a giddy look identical to the one hilariously plastered on Georges face too. Our farewells were sent and we plodded over to the car and took a five minute drive back to our house.

Our drive wasn't made from gravel like others in our street were, it was just plain tarmac so there wasn't any sound that we stopped in front of the door. The sigh I gave out next was never loud and relaxing. We gave each other a glance before leaning forward and pressing our smooth lips together once again.

"You know, the sad thing is that we're still not finished." He chuckled in my ear.

"So we better get on with it then." I winked and dropped out of the car. If it wasn't cold this morning, it sure was now! Even though I was layered in thick clothing, the chill still managed drift to my covered flesh. My cheeks felt crushed in the cold of the night most likely sending my tanned skin paler. I quickly reached for the shopping bags while John rushed to the front door making way for the large load if bags.

Penny couldn't stop leaping about the house excitedly on our arrival while I kept trying to walk through to the kitchen on the left. I let the weighty bags plod on the marble, kitchen side before slumping down on the floor in a tired mess. Penny slobbered all over my face with a slimy tongue.

"Calm down girl!" I laughed in fits while she continued to show me affection until I had her role on her back to scratch her spotted belly. During in this time, John stood in the doorway with a grin lined up on his face.

"That dog gets more attention than I do!" He complained in a joke.

"Yeah, well I could say the same for the turtle!"

"Hey leave Squirt out of it!" He warned running over to the tank.

"Then you can leave my Penny out of it!" I pouted wrapping my arms around her silky, fur covered body.

"Oh? It's _your_ Penny now?" He asked mocking to be offended.

"Yep! And that's why she gets more love than you will!" I smirked in a challenging way.

"I could do much better than that dog any day." He spoke slyly walking over toward my body still curled up on the ground.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"Prove it!"

These words lit a fire amongst his eyes and he squatted down next to me placing his index finger beneath my chin. He got his face so close to mine that our breaths merged together in clouds of sweet honey.

"Gladly..." There was not delay. Not even a tease to my lips before he wrapped our tongues together. Penny's warmth had moved away from us both as we continued to pour out our passion into each other's grasp. Subtle moans clouded both of our combined breaths and gently, he lowered me close to the floor leaving him dominating on top. He used his strong, muscular arms hold his weight on the floor bellow me, my own reaching for his waist to thrust him down on my defenceless figure. Soon after he landed atop me, his own hands caressed my checks in a slow, soothing manor. His slim figure fell between my parted legs though we just continued the magic. My hands rubbed against the slim yet brawny waist eventually tickling underneath the material of his T-shirt. I swear if this were set somewhere more private, we would have done _a lot_ more by this point. This went on for an eternity and still didn't show any signs of keeping at bay... That was good... But by this point, Penny had unfortunately got a little impatient for my fussing so she ran towards us actually shoving John away from my stunned face.

"Hey! Penny!" I laughed as she lathered my face in constant, envious licks.

"Look at least my turtle doesn't ruin something as amazing as that." John defended with a smile stitched to his lips.

"Yeah, well she was just protecting me!" I defended hugging her tightly.

"Protecting? From what?!" He laughed.

"From your fierce moves on me." I winked.

"Oh... You've seen nothing yet." He whispered in a flirtatious breath inching closer to my face... Let's make him work for it...

"Not yet honey... We've still got work to do." I matched his voices tone with a finger placed to his lips.

"Ugh, I guess..." He rolled his eyes and stood back up offering down a hand for me. "So where do we start Boss?"

His chuckled accepting his hand. " Well we need to unpack everything and then prepare the meringue. Which, by the way, you are making 'cause I have no clue what to do!"

"Heh, fine. But you have to do the presents and cards then!"

"Ha! You have a deal!" We actually shook hands and went to get the first job done (which didn't take a long time actually). The meringue however, took a little longer than expected. When ever we celebrated Christmas, we never used a traditional Christmas cake for some reason. It wasn't that we didn't like the taste of it, it's simply because we weren't normal! Though we weren't the only ones to have this odd tradition... Every year one of our friends hosts big the Christmas party at one of the houses- each with a different cake. With us we had a Lemon Meringue, Aaron and Ange had a ginger cake, Eliza and Maria had a Victoria Sponge, Peggy and Laf made a double chocolate fudge cake and Herc made sticky toffee pudding. But if we ever went to my parents house, they would make a Toffee Pavlova. It was strange as we had been told many times but it was what we had always done.

As for the Christmas cards I wrote while John sorted out the Lemmon Meringue, they were quite easy. Each card was filled with a singular heartfelt message. Mainly summing up the year or just a kind message written differently each time.

John had finished his job at the same time I finished my writing. During this time we had a Christmas track on repeat every now and then singing along to the well known ones (mainly Jacky though). With wrapping paper, we used one with a gold background and silver snowflakes sprinkled over the paper. Everyone's gift was wrapped with perfection and joy but Penny got scent of present before we had even got it out the bag so she kept trying to take it forehand. John kept teasing on how his Squirt wouldn't try anything like that but I had to keep reminding him, s

Squirt lived in a tank.

Our 'Pet Battles' were a fun thing that happened on a regular basis. We secretly loved the others choice in pets, though acted on different sides to each other. We had got Penny as a puppy from a rescue shelter as soon as we moved into the house and Squirt a few weeks later. John was in love with her, but still liked to tease about my 'over affectionate relationship' with the Springer. What an I say, I'm a dog person!

The last present we wrapped was Herc's surprise as it took a little while to prepare. Though it was so going to be worth it! After he added the last piece of sellotape, he slumped down on the sofa letting out an over dramatic sigh of exhaustion. It was now 20:49.

"Hate to burst your bubble, but we still have one more thing to do..." I laughed at his devastated state.

"WhAt?!" He squeaked.

"Heh, don't worry. It's calm."

"Calm?" He questioned in disbelief.

"How would you fancy going out for a moon lit walk with Penny and I?" I said while walking to grab my boots along with his own.

"I may have enough energy to join you..." He smiled and took to boots swinging off my index finger.

"Vamos, Penny! ¡Es hora de caminar!" I called for the jolly Springer.

 ** _"Come on Penny! Time for a walk!"_**

Stepping outside into the chilled air should have come as a stabbing shock, but because of the warm man by my side, I was calmed. Penny helped my stride by tugging nicely at the leash around her neck. The wind blew heavily with each step we took which also made us snuggle tighter together down the road. It was so quiet you would hear a pin drop a mile away. So calm. So peaceful.

Heading farther up the road, we started to approach a small park lined with towering, bare, winter trees. The ground was solis with frozen, snow crystals that glistens with the sought reflection of the bright, full cratered moon along with the Stars that scattered unscripted in the blanket of darkness layer above our heads. Even in the park it was quiet. Not a soul to be heard other than our subtle footsteps though. Since we were the only ones to take a step out on this stunning, clear Christmas night, I let Penny free of her lead to run about into the mysterious depths of the dark park. Penny usually run off but she always came back at the first call of her name. Me and John took this as an opportunity to stroll unfazed by anything else. It was perfect.

We said nothing along the stroll between trees. The only things that changed were our surroundings and the closer and tighter we gripped each other whenever the wind blew colder gusts of wind to slap across our bare cheeks. In its gales, it also whipped my hair into a whirlwind of knots that splashed around, trying to be contained by the warm hat atop my head.

I never caught Johns eyes on me once in the walk. They were always looking out to a darkened vision where all there were were glistening stars plastered above and the depths of the elegant moon fitted inside the dark blanket. His eyes though, were magic. Not only were they so glossy that even a slither of light could create a beacon out from his irises... no... It was those ember flecks that dotted about his other colours that stood out as unique as a blood moon. It seemed each fiery star in his jungle of colour reflected out a perfect memory or picture from the past. If you looked hard enough, you would find that the image moved as if it were _actually_ happening again before your eyes. Even two or three of the flecks darted across his pupils causing them to shine other than black...

He was amazing. And I loved him too much to put into words.

At the centre of the park, there was this massive, elegant oak tree who towered down over anything making it look miniature. It grew far higher than any house could stand, though not as tall as a city skyscraper (even though it look as if it did scrape the surface of the clouds). Our warm, steady pace brought us to sit in the snow against it string bark, hand in hand.

John was a taller than me so my petit head filled the crevice of his neck. His bouncy curls cushioned down atop my thick, dark strands while wrapping and cozying me inside the comforting grasp of his homely arms. I sighed like an idiot... A love-struck idiot.

After minutes of an adored silence, he spoke up through a whisper, "I know it's so cliche but... I love you Alexander Hamilton."

The use of my full name sent the same familiar, giddy shivers electrify my spine. "I know it's so cliche but... I love you to much to much to say Jacky."

He breathed a chuckle with my face turned up toward his. Our eyes made contact, almost as if it were a dream. Everything around us fuzzed into a meaningless blur until it was just us in the world. The breeze seemed to stay at bay while we inched closer towards the others lips. Within an inch of contact, our eyes fluttered shut to brush the slight bags colouring the skin. Then they locked.

From an outside view, it may have only looked small and normal for a relationships for this long. But... no... It wasn't... It was something more... significant than that... This meant something... more than just a kiss...

It was more of a message hidden beneath the outer layer. He was trying to tell me something I couldn't put to a name... It wasn't a thanks... nor a kiss goodbye... It was full of love... yet a new kind of love... A love I planned to get used to.

As soon as this... _strange_ kiss pulled off the frozen wind slapped around my cheeks. His eyes looked down to his hand then back up to my face. As he lowered himself into my eyes, you could see the contemplation flaming up in his pupils which started to drift to his pocket. Within seconds that pocket seemed to look a lot heavier than usual... His mouth opened to say something but instantly decided against it.

"I... erm... I think it would be best to head back." He spoke while standing back up a little flustered.

"Yeah..." I said inquisitively. "... Sure..."

He took my hand in his while we wondered back up the path to exit the white blanketed park. Penny came trotting back, wet on the underbelly. Each step we took back to the house was just as magical as when we traveling there in the first place. But also with each step we took towards the house, I couldn't push down the question buzzing about my mind...

 _What was he hiding?_

 **Authors Note:** **I know, I know... This is a late Christmas story! There will only be one more part to this and that will be out Boxing Day... hopefully...**

 **This is the first story I've ever wrote on my iPad so I know that there will be mistakes! Sorry about that...**

 **This is also the first HAPPY story I've wrote so don't get used to it!**

 **I also want to apologise for how LONG this is! Wow.**

 **Okay anyway, I need to share this news! I GOT TICKETS TO SEE HAMILTON FOR CHRISTMAS! I actually CRIED ACTUAL TEARS!**

 **What did you get for Christmas? Leave it in your constructive reviews! Plus what do you think John is hiding?**

 **REVIEW IT!**

 **-L.E-Rae _x_**


	2. Part 2- Christmas Day

**_Quick Authors Note Warning: I just need to let you know that in the chapter there will be a few minor sex-references (I'm trying to make it as realistic as possible and their adults so yeahhh…) but nothing too bad. But similarly during this chapter, things will get quite steamy but I promise there will be NO SMUT! I don't do that sort of thing. Besides, Lams is way too much of an innocent ship for that! Anyway, hope you enjoy!_**

 ** _He took my hand in his while we wondered back up the path to exit the white blanketed park. Penny came trotting back, wet on the underbelly. Each step we took back to the house was just as magical as when we traveling there in the first place. But also with each step we took towards the house, I couldn't push down the question buzzing about my mind..._**

 ** _What was he hiding?_**

 **Chapter 2- Christmas Day**

 **(Alex's POV)**

Something was humming beside me… and I knew it wasn't John. It couldn't have been him because my own warmth was cozied against him, with is arms tangled over me. This noise was constant and annoying yet my brain kept trying to push the irritation away. The thick sheets that trapped both of our heat, I made shove into my face to block out the noisy buzz pricking at my ear. But it was pointless.

"Go away." I managed to grumble against the duvet. All that was replied was a quiet laughter from… more than one person? Wait. _More. Than. One. Person._ _ **Person.**_

Before the signals managed to completely control my limbs, I shot up in the bed knocking a massive lump to the top of my head. These people just laughed.

"My god, Alex!" One of them- a sweet female voice- chuckled.

"You two are unbelievable!" Another female, but much more firm voice called out.

"You owe me TWICE now!" A bouncy girls voice chirped from literally right beside my face.

"What's going on- Oh my god!" This last person was male but seemed to only come in at this very second. His ascent was thick with French but seemed to have an exaggerated joy in in his tone- like the third girl.

Now not only did those hums start to pain me, the alarm bell ricocheting around my skull played a part in that too. Eyelids still heavy with sleep, they fuzzed around the edges before opening up to gaze upon four of my best friends, crowded around the place I slept- all in very different states. Eliza had a hand clasped to her mouth trying to restrain the laughter building up around her eyes. Angelica however had no amusement in this situation at all. She had a plastered expression of complete unbelievable-disappointment. Her right eyebrow was completely raised while the other joined a displeased scowl across each muscle. The last two people were Peggy and Lafayette, who were crying in balls of laughter about the bedroom floor which I wanted to glare at but instead flushed my face as red as a tomato and sat completely embarrassingly wide-eyed. Thank goodness John and I decided to wear full pyjamas the night before or else they would have seen us both shirtless… snuggling… in bed together… Which then brought me to John who had the exact same expression drawn upon his face. We both sat up completely stunned, yet our fingers were still laced together underneath the sheets.

 _Why the hell were they up here? Where were the others then?_

"What the hell guys?! What the HELL are you doing up here?!" I had to try to restrain myself from shouting.

"Err, more like what are YOU doing up here still? It's past twelve!" Angelica shook her head in disbelief but… she wasn't wrong…

 _My god! Why didn't the alarm go off!_

"Alex! I thought you set an alarm!" John assumed, still as confused as I was.

"I did!" I retaliated. "But the batteries must have blown!" I indicated the blank screen of digital clock beside me.

"Okay! Okay! It doesn't matter what happened, we just need to figure out how to cook a Christmas dinner in under an hour…" Eliza's soft words calmed down the whole situation.

"Fine. But where are Herc, Aaron, Maria, Thomas and James?" John asked hopping out of bed to grab his clothes- me following on.

"I don't know. They didn't say." Laf chirped in wiping away an actual tear of laughter.

"Okay…" I ran towards the bathroom, changing as if I had an invisible timer on my back. My hair combed through quite easily but I just left it down again like the day before. I rushed the clothes over my head (a white buttoned shirt and dark blue jeans). Without any real recall on the mad dash in the bathroom, I remember I rushed out letting John go in to get changed himself, though as I did fully exit the bathroom, he wasn't waiting at the door… he was in the corner of the room looking really flushed at Lafayette who eyebrows were wiggling.

"Ahhemm!" I cleared my throat at them signalling to the open bathroom door. Without hesitation, the former sped towards the bathroom out of line of sight. I looked around the room to see that the girls had cleared out- most likely downstairs.

"Okay. What is going on between you two recently? I mean, he even stopped to talk to Dad yesterday! Please! I need to know what's going on!" I almost begged at his feet. He just smirked.

"You'll find out soon enough _mon petit lion_ …" He strutted out into the hall leaving me gob smacked like an idiot.

"That's what everyone's saying!" I yelled after him gaining no response. "Come back here you Large Baguette!" I ran through the hall trying to tackle my taller brother at the bottom of the stairs. He simply placed a hand to my forehead easily restraining my movements.

"Are you two going to keep fooling about like children, or are you going to help fix the two lovebirds mess?" Ange's firm voice cut through our sibling-squabble.

"Yes Mam!" Both of us stood to attention, our arms signalling a salute. Angelica found an amusement in our fear of her and continued to give orders like a general.

 _How on earth did Burr get through each day without being brutally murdered?_

"Right. Because Alex and John didn't bother to set an alarm,"

"It broke." I muttered underneath my breath.

"we all must help if we want to save Christmas! Now, none of us know where the boys and Maria have gone nor when they'll be coming back so I think we all just need to try and get everything done as quickly as possible! So Alex, what was your twos plan for today?"

"Erm…" I breathed wracking my mind, "John was meant to finish off the Meringue while I started with the veg and turkey's." I could see Peggy pushing down a smile at the mention of the turkey she saved me with yesterday. "After he finished the Meringue, I guess he would have helped me finish off the dinner. Then we would have cleaned up the house, set the table and did a run through on it all."

"Okay… So here's what we're going to do. When John's down, he will finish of the Meringue and after that will help out Alex and Laf with the dinner. Eliza and Pegs, you two will clean up and set the table and I will help out in all jobs just helping out- mainly supervising you children. Okay?"

"Okay Miss. Schuyler." We all chimed together mocking her use if _'children'_.

"Or soon to be, Mrs Burr…" Eliza trailed off a smile lathering her tone. It was amazing that Aaron finally got up the courage to propose last May. Laf, Herc, John and I, had to stop him from having a panic attack before entering the restaurant he was so nervous! Yet he wasn't the only one… Maria had proposed to Eliza four years ago and they had been wed last year- at a lake actually! Out of all our friends, they were the first to be married. Then it was Ange and Aaron (though they were only engaged). The rest of us (John and I, Laf and Pegs and if I dare say, Thomas and James) just lived together, with nothing really confirmed. Me and Jack however, were the first of our friends to own a house together… just not one of the first to make anything official…

Ange chuckled at Eliza but soon clapped her hands to get us to work… We had under four hours to get this done… Originally, we would have only had one hour, but thankfully, the other boys and Maria called saying they needed more time for what they were up to… Strange…

In our kitchen, we had two large ovens, good enough to cook two large turkeys. Before Laf and I got to work, I googled how long it take to cook a turkey fortunately, it said it would take about four and a half hours. John came down about five minutes into the 'mad-house rush', but Angelica quickly ushered him to the Meringue as she began to help with the pastry base.

Laf and I began to place the one turkey into a tray (because Ange said we would only need one as to how big they were) with foil covered around it, placing it in the oven upside down draped with onions and red wine. Turns out, when cooking a Christmas dinner, there wasn't really much you could do until the very end. I do this every year, though every year I always forget what to do… Who knows why?!

After we finished prepping the bird, I went to help hoover the living room, picking up all the fallen pine needles and bits of fluff with it. Eliza had taken over Peggy's job of dusting while the latter went to help wash the Meringue pots. Laf cleared up the kitchen side, Angelica fed Penny and Squirt and John rearranged the furniture so the rooms where more spacious. Last of all in this hour of cleaning and hilarious madness, I helped John set the table with a deep red table cloth, eleven tall wineglasses all with a Christmas napkin wrapped on the inside. Each space had a silver, sparkling cracker in between the knives and forks on the tables and last of all, everyone who helped out that day, grabbed a handful of multi-coloured shining star sequins and threw them across the table. Of course, Laf took it to the next level by throwing the stars over the top of our heads- purposefully missing the clothed-surface. So, I showing some brotherly love, decided to aim another shot at him. Yes, I had just hoovered the floor but, what we were _all_ throwing about the house made it even more magical. After we ran out of the packets of stars, around us were dancing patterns of the glistening sparkles scattered across the floor. It may have been a mess, but it was beautiful. And we all agreed.

"So what do we do until the turkey's ready?" John asked, still admiring the stars.

"Well its only 01:00," I said reaching into the cupboard, "I say we have a drink."

Everyone nodded in approval and copied my movement to the can of beers and wine displayed along the worktop (except for Eliza who just had water). Before moving to the sitting room, I looked at the kitchen clock and calculated the time that we would need the veg on- **_16:30ish_**.

Once the conversations started they went on continuously. The main conversation topics was relationships, Ange's wedding plans and many side-splitting stories from Laf and Peggy. The others started to flood in at around four, each of them running towards their partners or (in one case) wife. James instantly ran to John to thank him for the invitation, whereas me and Jefferson had a stare-down at the door. He just would not give in. We could have kept going if both of our partners didn't break us away from trance.

 _Come on Alex. Just try to get along with them… For John. No other reason. You don't have to_ _ **like**_ _them. You just have to act for a few hours… For John…_

 _My god Jack. You're worth this._

"Hello there Thomas! Merry Christmas!" I said attempting to be nice. The friendliness like barbed wire to my throat.

"Hello there, _Alex_. Merry Christmas." He held out his hand to shake formally. His face was flooded with utter confusion- it was _hilarious_!

 _Hmm… Maybe I could get used to this…_

John seemed satisfied with our interaction and offered for them to sit down with us. To my surprise, Thomas was friends with quite a few of my friends already… Like Laf, Angelica, Aaron and Maria. I already knew James was friends with us all… and, I guess he wasn't _that_ bad. He was kind, quiet and caring but I guess that the fact he was with _Thomas Jefferson_ put me off… a lot.

Unfortunately, Thomas was a hit with all the other people he didn't know (Eliza, Peggy and Herc). But I do admit, he was kinda… sorta… a 'nice' guy to other people than me.

 _Ew. Someone bleach my mind. I feel sick._

Me and Thomas met during collage as we were in the same major- Law. We were always competing on the opposite team, trying to top the other, bring the other down. We _loathed_ each other from the very start and I would bet right 'till the end too.

"Jacky, what's the time?" I whispered so only he would hear.

He whipped out his phone, "16:37, Hun'"

"Thanks." I smiled and walked back through to the kitchen. "Come on you Baguette! Time to get the veg on!"

"Fine, _petit lion_!" He called back following into the kitchen.

"If you tackle the sprouts, carrots, stuffing and gravy, I'll do the roast potatoes, mash, peas, swede, cabbage and finishing the turkey?"

"You can't do all that! Let me help more _mon frère_."

I was about to decline again until my favourite, sweet persons' voice broke through. "There's no point Laf. You know he'll always win. Unless, I'm allowed to intervene…" John followed over to me completely ignoring Laf's presence. Not as wild as he does when we're alone, but he planted a kiss against my lips and looked back down to me, "So will you let me help you?"

"I…" I stuttered, "I…err… yes?"

There was no need to look at Lafayette's giddy expression. Whenever we did something romantic to each other- even a simple flirt- he would get over the top excited. I mean, he was probably more romantic than us two! But he acted as our number one shipper. Most likely because his brother and best friend had a solid relationship together. Though now I think about it, Laf was the reason we were together now…

In collage, I shared a dorm with Laf (who had a major in French) but he had known John for years (even though John was three years older than him). John had come round to the house a little bit in my teenage years but we barely even said "Hi" to each other. Laf introduced us properly in collage. John and I grew closer as if we'd know each other for years. Laf kept telling me to ask him out but I refused to because for one: back then I was really self-conscious about being bisexual and even though I knew John was gay, it still used to scare me: two, this would have been the first person I would have shown feelings towards so I was terrified of rejection. But Laf (being _'the best brother'_ he was), told me and John to go to this bar to meet him, Aaron and Herc but guess what? It was a set up. None of them ever showed! Instead they waited outside and kept peering through the window watching us! I had only even found that out last month! But anyway, John and I talked the night away until he asked me out to another date at the end of night. He walked me back to my dorm charming me all the way. Back in our collage years, he was an extremely charming, reckless, rebel who went by the term, _"YOLO"_ , quite a lot! These days, now we were settled, he had calmed quite a bit, though he would still always have his boisterous side… But who wouldn't like a bit of excitement now and again?

"You two are too adorable!" He squealed. The two of us just rolled our eyes and continued to chop and boil up the veg. Laf finished first so he went to gather the others to the large, star-scattered dining table. John helped guide the turkey out to the table to be carved into steaming, moist slices which everyone dug into straight away. I told (or forced) John to sit while I gathered drinks for everyone. But when I did sit down (in between John and Eliza) the first thing I swallowed was a mixture between carrot, stuffing and turkey and it was so luxuriously tender! It was almost slipping down my throat without the need to chew. The roast potatoes were golden with crisp which went so well with the soft cabbage. Everyone adored it (especially Peggy who kept giving great reviews on the turkey… I wonder why (-_-)).

Though as soon as the Meringue came out, that's when everybody couldn't believe it! Jacky really out did himself this year! The zest from the lemon sprang and bounced around your mouth with flavour. The actual fluffy meringue crumbled with barely any pressure on the tip of your tongue. Plus the pastry base wasn't hard yet not soft. It was perfectly sweet with extra seasoning that I couldn't name. The flavour practically erupted and flowed with the saliva amongst different realms of your mouth.

"You are baking this more often!" Was all I could make out to describe how delectable this was! He shrugged modestly with a smile upon his face. But it wasn't just me who was handing out complements, everyone else agreed too!

The dinner (which was meant to be a lunch) was full of conversation and a merry atmosphere. Everything was perfect, just as you would expect it to be.

After we left the table to the living room we all sat in a pile on the couch (Jefferson on the other side thank god!). Limbs over limbs everybody crowded on one sofa- even Penny chose to join us, except with a rug in front of us. Beforehand, we all decided on Titanic. It wasn't a Christmas film, but was anything other than decorations, a dinner and presents we did traditional? We all shut off the lights, drew the blinds and cozied up with a beer or glass of wine each watching the heart-wrenching romance of the tragic love story. Johns light body was sat over my own with our heads locked together like a puzzle piece. The same could be said for the rest (except Herc who sat on the floor fussing Penny).

 ** _Authors Note: Warning! Titanic spoilers in this paragraph!_**

The film lasted for over three hours though was worth every second of it. Though Lafayette (who was sitting next to us) wouldn't stop elbowing John and I whenever a character 'Rose' mentioned the name 'Jack' (another star in the film). The two were lovers, so I guess Laf found amusement in the name 'Jack' because my cute nickname for John, was in fact, ' _Jack'_ or ' _Jacky'_. The film ended in tears (like it always did) with Jack drowning to save his loves life. As soon as the credits began to role Aaron stood up and flicked back on the lights, collecting a box of tissues on the way. Every one of us accepted the paper to wash away the tears- especially John who I kissed his forehead in reassurance.

"Come on guys, it's already quarter to ten! Time to open presents!" Peggy squealed as we all cheered. All of us made our way to sit around the Christmas tree handing out the presents. I mainly received many notebooks and reading books- I was happy-, John got lots of funny gifts along with many turtle themed items- he was happy. On the last round of opening gifts, it was time for our presents to be handed out. Everybody loved their gifts and shared their thanks but Hercules had an _interesting_ response to his… Me and John were very tedious last night while wrapping this… We got the equestrian book on the bottom but placed on top was a small picture frame with a really cruel message on the front… cruel

I remember it like I remembered my own voice… It was a brown, stallion stood elegantly in the field except with a twist… We had cut around a picture of Laf's head and stuck it to the image. Now, if you were to look at it, you would just think we were taking the micky out of Laf… It would be only until you read the dialog would you get it…

 ** _"_** ** _Remember that drunk time you said you loved horses that much, you would (putting it lightly) 'make-love' to one? How'd this one look to ya?_**

 ** _Merry Christmas!_**

 ** _-Alex and John_** ** _x_** ** _"_**

"I'm going to kill you two." Herc muttered to us with his face completely flushed. Though it did arise some sort of unease inside me.

"You know he's going to get us back _bad_ for this one, don't you?" John whispered to my ear, naming the nerves in my stomach.

In Herc's case, he was lucky that the others were gossiping away as he unwrapped it so he had chance to hide the picture in a rush.

 _We were so mean._ I chuckled in my mind.

"Come on guys, what about a fun game of truth or dare?" Maria challenged, breaking the individual conversations.

"Really Maria?" Angie questioned unamused, "Don't you remember what happened last time? Laf got stuck on roof. And the time before that? Alex and John got lost in the woods during a snow storm."

It was true. Maria was an extremely daring girl… It was almost terrifying… Though… that last dare in the woods wasn't exactly _that bad_ … We kept each other warm… in our own ways…

"Yeah, but I'm sure those two **lovebirds** , made good time out of it!" Maria backed up her argument and she couldn't be more right…

John and I exchanged a smirked glance to each other Laf picked up on. And being the _'shipper'_ he was, had to hold back a mountain of giddy laughs.

"So what?! Some of your dares have gone too far before!" Angelica sighed.

"Oh come on Angie! I promise I won't make the dares that bad this time! I'll just extend on the truths…" Maria pleaded again. "Surely you want to know some things that are going on around here!"

Ange contemplated this for a few seconds before nodding her head knowing she'd regret this… "… Fine… But I dibs going first!"

Maria looked a little disappointed but smiled. We all got closer together around the living room. Herc was sat on one end of the couch along with Peggy and Laf on the other side. Maria and Eliza shared a small armchair near the window while Thomas and James leant on the side of it. Me and John leant on each other in front of the crackling, fire place (Penny sat laid next to us). Which left Aaron and Angelica snuggled in front of the door. Angie started off…

"Okay…" She scanned the room looking for a target. "Eliza. Truth or Dare?"

"Truth." She replied with confidence.

"Are you and Maria, every planning on having kids?"

There was a really long pause. The married couple looked at each other with concern but settled it with a smiling nod. Eliza took a deep breath…

"Well… we were planning to tell you sooner… In fact, we were going to break the news tonight… But I guess this will have to do now… I… I'm pregnant…"

Everyone gasped.

"We went to see a doctor a few months ago." Maria continued. "And we found a man who looked like me to donate so Eliza could have the operation… And it worked!"

"Oh my gosh, Lizzy!" Angelica rushed over embracing her in a hug. "I'm so happy for you!"

Everybody agreed and rushed over into a massive group hug. We were all so proud that those two could now start a proper family together. They both deserved all this happiness.

"How many months are you into the pregnancy?" I buzzed with a smile erupting my face.

"Three months!" She replied with liquid joy dropping down her face.

"Congratulations!" Herc cheered and Penny even ran up to lick Eliza's face.

"Okay… So my turn? Hmm… Aaron. Truth or Dare?"

"Truth."

"Okay, so we all know how nervous you were to propose, so something must have gone wrong somewhere… Care to share." She didn't ask this as a question.

"Well… I may or may not have forgotten to pay the food bill…"

"Oh my gosh!" Eliza exclaimed.

"It's true!" Angie laughed. "He was so nervous about proposing at the park, he completely forgot to pay!"

"Well what happened?" Peggy asked inquisitively.

"He proposed, I obviously said yes we went home and the next morning I caught him running back to the restaurant to pay up! There thankfully understood though!"

The room filled with heavy mountains laughter- Laf and Pegs taking it too far (like usual).

"Right… So let's embarrass someone else shall we?" Burr's eyes locked on Jefferson. "Thomas, Truth or Dare?"

"Dare."

"Now we're getting into it!" Maria laughed.

"You are going to hate me so much…" Aaron mumbled underneath his breath. "I dare you to give a heart-felt complement to Alex!"

"HAHAH! YES AARON!" John cried next to my gobsmacked face.

Thomas's face was red with rage you could almost see the puffs of steam shoot from his ears. I could bet that if the room was silent from the laughs, you would be able to hear his boiling whistle. But me being me, I took advantage of this situation…

"Come on then Thomas!" I spoke with a smug look across my face. "Tell me how amazing I am." Everybody split their sides. Even though the whole room were friends with us both, they all knew how much we loathed each other.

"I will so get you back for this Burr." He huffed and took a deep grimacing breath. "I guess you have really smart brains and could probably win any debate with words…" Something else was mumbled to the end of that.

"Oh okay? What did you say at the end of that?" I prodded.

He shot daggers at me. "I said that you were better than me in collage."

Everybody gasped, cheered and laughed hysterically in massive waves. I knew all this myself, though hearing it from _Thomas Freaking Jefferson_ was something completely new. He buried his face to James arms before continuing his go. And to my surprise, he never chose me…

"Lafayette. Truth or Dare."

"Dare, mon amie."

"Yes! We're on a roll!" Maria blurted excitedly.

"I dare you to call Charles Lee on loudspeaker and give him the 'BFF' tone." Thomas smirked but Laf retaliated,

"You see, I would but I don't have that jerks number."

"Oh my friend, but I _do_." Thomas grinned waving his phone about.

"Wait how do you have his number?" James responded.

"I actually don't know… Ew. Remind me to delete this after the dare."

"Fine." Laf added extra pronunciation on the _'f'_.

Thomas dialled the number and handed the phone to Laf. The phone rung about ten times before answering.

"Thomas Jefferson." Lee spat from the other end of the line. "What the hell do you want?"

Laf took a deep breath realising he could use this dare against Thomas himself. He put on his best southern accent and began to rant.

"OMG! Lee-zies. My BFF! Haven't talked in like FOREVER! How are you! Missed you so much babes! Hope you're doing okay! I know I'm totally not! My nails are _so_ broken and my skin is like so like oily like I could fry chips with it! I mean like, how gross is that! Hang on! We totally need to like catch up Hun! How'd like a movie night sound to you! Ooohh! We should TOTALLY do that! You bring the popcorn, like sweet obviously and I'll bring facemasks! Saturday sound good? Good! See ya babes!"

Everybody tried to swallow down the laughs. Lee never had a chance to talk because of how fast Laf spoke in a voice IDENTICAL to Thomas's.

"Thomas, what the f-" He was cut off by the end of the call where everyone burst from laughter. Not was Laf's impression of a girls talk with a 'BFF' stereotypically on point, but the fact that Lee thought it was Thomas made it even more side-splitting.

"Call him back now and tell him it was you!" Thomas raged above the laughter.

"Oooh… Sorry _babes_ but I may have _accidentally_ deleted his contact and the call history… Oops? But you _did_ say that was what you wanted, right? As soon as the call ended? Oh, I'm so sorry _Tom-zies_!" Laf said continuing his 'girly voice'.

From this point my cheeks ached and I actually thought I would have thrown up laughing too hard. Jefferson's face was _priceless_! And Laf seemed so proud of himself.

"You are _dead_ Marquis!" Jefferson spat.

After we all finally calmed down Laf's turn came up.

"Okay, so James, Truth or Dare?"

"Truth, thanks."

"Hmm… You're too innocent for anything drastic… I know! Do you and Thomas have any cute nicknames for each other? And if so, what are they?"

"Well… He calls me Jemmy and I sometimes call him Tommy…" He blushed hard at this.

"Aww! That's adorable!" Eliza sweetly said in a coat of thick honey.

"Okay then…" James said changing the subject. "Maria. Truth or Dare?"

"I always choose Dare so… Truth!"

"Okay… Have you ever had any One-Night Stands?"

"Wow. Remind me not to take it so innocently on you next time!" Laf chuckled.

And for the first time in history, Maria was taken back by a truth or dare game. Her face paled so much you could barely see its original colour.

"So? Have you?" James asked again.

"I… err… only once…"

"Oh really? And when was this?" Eliza asked mischievously.

"Years and years ago…"

"And who was it?" Peggy smirked.

"Do we know them?" Angelica actually looked amused

"Well this was really strange because I only liked girls and _he_ only liked guys… We were very drunk… If that's an understatement…" Maria trailed off.

"Yeah, but you didn't answer the question." I pointed out extremely intrigued at this point.

"Well… yes… we know them…" Maria made no eye contact with anyone and we dropped into silence for a while.

"Who was it?" Laf asked on the edge of his seat.

She didn't say anything. Except look directly across the room at someone I would never have guessed.

 _Oh my god._

"I… It's okay… You can tell them…" _John_ whispered with a crack of fear in his voice.

 _Oh my god._

"Wait, wait, wait, wait! You two? Oh my god." Was all I could make out. The whole room filled with gasps except for Maria, John and… and Laf?

"You knew about this too?!" I directed at Laf who shied away into Peggy's side.

"I'm so sorry, Alex… But I promise this was a year before I met you! I promise! We both went to a party got hammered and it went from there… We were so drunk that we couldn't even remember what happened!" John reassured me looking so terrified.

"If you don't remember what happened, then how are you so sure?" Angelica spoke trying to keep calm.

"Well the fact that we woke up in the same bed… without clothes… Plus that Laf had seen us two leave the party together kinda suggested what happened that night…" Maria said with a hoarse voice.

"Please, Alex, Eliza, understand this was just a terrible mistake we made and we would never ever try it again. Besides, we're both either lesbian or gay. Liza, I love you." Maria stated holding Eliza's hand closer to herself.

"Mari, I don't care what happened years before you met me. It doesn't make you any less trustable than the day I chose to marry you. I love you too." Eliza smiled placing a hand to her cheek.

"Maria means that, Alex. And I'm so sorry for what happened… But I do mean it when I love you Alexander." Before he could reach up to stroke my face I thrusted our lips smacking together, not caring that everybody's eyes were glued to us. He tensed a little shocked how I forgave him so quickly- but the thing is, he didn't need forgiving when he'd done nothing wrong in the first place.

"You have nothing to apologise for, when you've done nothing wrong in the first place. It was a year before we truly met, so there's no point in dwelling on the past. I love you too John Laurens."

We both smiled deep into the others eyes treasuring the moment close to our hearts… But someone had to ruin it…

 _Click._

"Dammit!" Laf muttered realising he never turned his phone on silent.

"Did you actually just take a picture?" I said unamused.

"Would you believe me if I said no?" He questioned slightly high-pitched.

"No." Me and John both said bluntly.

"Didn't think so." He sighed and everyone just burst out in laughs making the situation less awkward.

"Well I guess it's my turn!" Maria stared. "John, Truth or Dare!"

"Dare."

"Oooh… being a little brave aren't we?" She challenged.

"Not really, because Angie told you not to make them too extreme." He retaliated.

"Hmm… Fine… I dare you to play Seven Minutes in Heaven with Alex!"

"You do realise that they'll do it without hesitation?" Laf chuckled.

"Yeah, but they deserve Seven Minutes to themselves after what has just happened." Maria smiled.

"I guess…" Laf agreed, "Okay then you two! Off you pop!"

"Gladly!" John said reaching out his hand.

"Oh, and you two, keep it PG!" Angie called up the stairs as we ran to our room, hand in hand.

"Thanks for the reminder!" I called back down to her.

As soon as the door closed tight, John shoved me to the wall and placed him forehead down to mine.

"You know this was a game played in High School, right?" I whispered.

"Yeah, but who's to say we can't still enjoy it?" He laughed in his adorable way.

"I know I'm not…" My mouth greedily latched to his own, starving for the taste. He shoved harder against my own mouth with large force. Our tongues tackled for dominance in the others mouth, getting out deep, heavy sighs of joy. My hands rubbed down at his waist while he laced through my hair, squeezing the back of my head. My hands began to massage around his shoulders blades making him moan into my mouth in delight- that was one of his weak spots. Each time I pressed down into his shoulders with my thumbs he squeezed me tighter- his hands now around my waist. We carried out like this for minutes, letting the air fill pleasuring, muffled moans of pure delight. Soon though I took it to the next level. On instinct I pulled up on his shoulders, helping me up higher to wrap my legs around the taller, older man's waist. He knew what to do.

Our mouths still sucking constantly at the others, he walked over to the bed dropping me down upon its soft sheets that we awoke in this morning. Like we had done in the kitchen yesterday, he fitted between my open legs except now, stroking up and down my thighs. Every time my hands pulled at his hair, he would squeeze the skin on my legs tighter making even more moans breathe to the others throat. When he realised this was a constant noise he decided to hit my main weak spot… His kissed trailed to my neck, every now and then licking around a particular spot. Though he wasn't done yet… Against my pure, now, unmuffled moans that I tried to supress, he met the collar of my shirt where I felt a smirk glisten against my chest. He brought his hands up from my thighs towards the buttons he hastily undid. With every button that was clicked out of place a new mark was left underneath them. Hitting a personal weakness, I moaned louder than I should have, clasping a hand to my mouth. Obviously, he looked back up at me with his glamourous eyes, realising I had to remove a hand from his head (which I was subconsciously pressing down on). He made his way back towards my mouth placing hands to my thighs again and rubbing at a continuous pattern. He also nuzzled himself in between my loose arm making me grip down to his root-drench curls. Every so often, he would use my legs to thrust my body closer into him or he would crawl over me stroking my tanned cheeks. His mouth slowly started to nibble my bottom lip vigorously while I worked along his top lip, occasionally, gently stoking my tongue along it. Softly, we made our way back to the full-mouth until I flipped him over to dominate the upper position.

"Getting a little eager, are we?" He chuckled completely breathless (not that my state was any different). This time instead of lunging back down to his throbbing lips, I just gazed at him through love-drunk eyes. My hands started to begin caressing his cheek with slow motions and with this he followed up my arms to catch my stare. As soon as our eyes locked all of his stunning looks came flooding past at once. He was so defenceless with his arms sprawled above his head along with his deep quick breaths. He was hot and sweating droplets around his forehead where just above, his thick, brown curls were completely messed into a scattered maze of knots. His pupils were fully widened which stared long and hard into my own.

"You're absolutely stunning." I sighed lowering my forehead down on top of his own. We both relaxed into each other, into a tight embrace.

"You're not too bad yourself, Lexi." He sighed back to me.

"You do know Laf will storm in here exactly when the time is up?" I grave a breathy chuckle down to his defenceless body.

"Yeah, so let's give them a show…" He winked and without giving me chance to reply before grappling for a firm hold in my mouth. My legs were clenching around his waist while he again started to lace his fingers desperately through my hair. My god I loved this man.

Though, just as we predicted, Laf came storming up the stairs to fling open the doors wide open, with Peggy, Maria and Herc balling out laughter with him.

"Times up lovebirds!" Laf shouter at our smirking faces. Sure, we were a bit embarrassed, but it wasn't like we weren't expecting it.

"Aww, are sure the times up?" John pouted, slipping out from underneath me.

"Yep! In fact, we were nice and added a few extra seconds to your time!" Peggy winked.

"I think my dare went pretty well…" Maria admitted to herself.

"Come on guys! Let's get down!" Herc laughed running back down the stairs, the others in tow.

I shifted my weight to lean off John before pulling him back for a firm but quick kiss. We both giggled to each other, before running after the other four, hand in hand.

"Okay so my turn…" John said regaining his seat against me. "Herc. Truth or Dare?"

"Truth, I guess."

"Hmm. Have you actually lost your virginity yet?"

"I…I… err… Once…"

"Oh? And who was this with?" John asked extremely intrigued.

At this point Herc was a mixture between pure white, and beat red. He began to shuffle uncomfortably… though he wasn't the only one… Laf started to look as guilty as ever…

 _Oh my god._

A huge smile erupted upon my face which Laf picked up on, though no one saw, their eyes glued to Herc. I kept darting my eyes between the two not actually believing it. I felt like I was going to burst with joy and scream to the rest in the room what I now knew as fact. But Laf cut me of… His expression sent a clear message,

 _"_ _Don't push anymore or say_ _ **anything**_ _."_

And the finger to his lips confirmed it. So they actually did hook up once… Wow.

"Can… Can we skip this one?" Herc made out completely uncomfortable in this situation. If this was anyone else, I knew John would have kept pushing forward but there was something in Herc's tone that might have sent him to tears… This tone now pushing away the thought to prod at Laf too.

"Alright then. Your turn." John said quickly changing the subject.

"Okay then… Pegs. Truth or Dare?"

"Oh come on! You know me, Dare all the way!" She giggled

"Okay then, I dare you to go outside and roll in the snow."

"Easy!" She said getting up towards the door.

"There's a catch though… You can only do this in your T-shirt and jeans with _no_ socks or shoes either. For thirty seconds." Herc grinned.

"You have _got_ to be joking!" She exclaimed.

"Nope. Get your ass out there!" He laughed pointing to the door.

She made her way to the front door, taking off her socks and jumper. When she opened the wall to the outside world, gales and frozen air came gushing through the house… I actually felt sorry for her…

"You are _dead_ Mulligan…" She muttered before taking a step out into the snow. The door crashed behind her as we all crowded at the window to watch her leap into the snow. Though before she did, she held up her middle finger to us all where we all laughed.

After her thirty seconds were up, she reappeared in the living room- blue! Instantly I ran up the stairs to get a pile of warm towels and threw them back down at her once retrieved. I then ran to the kitchen to put on a hot chocolate for her. She must be _freezing_.

I returned with the steaming cup a few minutes later to find Laf restrain her from attacking Herc who was balling with laughter.

"Hey! Hey! Calm down!" I laughed handing her the cup.

"It seems like I'm not the one Angie needs to tell to calm sown with the dares!" Maria mocked a smug look on her face.

"Oh shut u-" Herc was cut off by a raging Peggy.

"NO! NO! DON'T TELL HER TO SHUT UP BECAUSE YOU WERE'NT THE ONE FREEZING HERE!"

We all just laughed at her shivering body curled up next to Laf in a mountain of towels.

 _Thank god we lit a fire._ I thought to myself.

"Okay…" Pegs started sipping a few more gulps of her warm drink, "My turn…"

But then the realisation hit me. It was either Angie or me.

"A…" She carried on the first letter of both our names for a long time before finishing it off. "..lex!"

 _Crap._

"Truth or Dare?" She smirked.

"Dare."

 _No! No! No! Why on earth did I chose Dare with PEGGY?!_

"Okay…" She had a smug look plastered over her face. I gulped. "We all know how much of a light-weight you are Alex…"

 _Oh crap._

"So…" She was teasing with her words, "I dare you to chug down two shots of Tequila!"

"Not another one of _these_ dares again!" I called out. Whenever I chose dare, the people most likely chose something to do with alcohol. It makes me question why I never chose truth…

"Fine." I spat with laughter behind my voice. "Only if I'm aloud to chug down some milk after!"

Don't ask me why but, whenever I got one of these dares, drinking milk afterwards helped me to: one keep it down and two: stop me from _actually_ becoming drunk. I _was_ a light-weight.

"Deal!" She smirked.

I made my way to the kitchen and found two shot glasses, an unopened bottle of Tequila and a glass of milk. With these items, I made my way back into the living room, full of laughter and… and a really flustered looking John…

 _What the hell was happening with him?_

"Ah! There you are!" Pegs bounded up to me still wrapped in towels. "Now let me pour the shots!" She took the glasses and bottle from my grip, setting them down on the table where she poured both shots- fuller than they should do.

"Now on three you have to do both with only a gulp apart, yes?" She said while everyone gathered around the table.

"S." I replied.

"Okay… Then…"

"Three!"

"Two!"

"One!"

"Time to take a…"

"SHOT!"

And with that I did as commanded with the liquid burning my throat. My taste buds tingled on fire while my face scrunched in on its self. I started to cough vigorously and the room began to spin. My hands fumbled for the glass of milk perched on the side of the table while everyone laughed intensely. The milk somehow managed to clear the fuzz from my vision and a sat gasping against my breathy splutters.

"You… guys… are… TERRIBLE!" I exclaimed between breaths.

"Oh, we know." Maria laughed.

"Why do you always do this to me?" I asked sitting back up off John's lap- something I must have done in the struggle.

"Because you're SUCH a lightweight!" Aaron burst.

"Shut up!" I was now laughing too.

After this we kinda forgot about the game. We chatted and talked for a long while until Angie called the time.9876up0987

"Guys, it's eleven fifteen. I think we should head back…"

"Really? Already?" John's eyes wide with… panic?

 _What on earth?_

"Yeah, she's right." Aaron commented looking back down to his phone. "We should get going…"

"I think we should head off too…" Eliza nodded at Maria.

"Sounds right…" Herc chimed glancing at John… Actually, everyone seemed to stare his way at this point…

"Yeah, I don't think Thomas can bare this anymore!" James laughed. "But thanks for the invite!"

"T… That's fine… Laf? W… What are you doing?" John stuttered in desperation.

"I think we'll stay for another drink." He winked back at him making Peggy give out a giddy giggle.

 _What was up with them?_

"S… Sure!" John sighed in relief but everybody chuckled again. This was getting ridiculous.

"What is happening with all of you?! And why don't I know what's happening?!" I almost yelled.

"You'll find out soon enough!" Everyone else laughed in sync. I just sighed in disbelief.

"Well anyway, I think we should go." Maria winked. I opened my mouth to comment on her actions, but closed it again knowing words were pointless.

"Okay then… See you soon…! I said in complete confusion. Everybody (other than Peggy and Laf) left with goodbyes and good memories until just the four of us stood in the kitchen with less intense but calming chatter, mainly discussing the events of the night.

"So how on earth did you learn to speak like Jefferson?!" John was still laughing from the previous subject.

"Well we did both live in France for a while plus his southern accent is really easy to mimic." Laf chuckled with an almost empty beer bottle in his hand.

"Wow! That's some skill!" I laughed, recalling the dare.

"Hey, I could most likely mimic you!" Laf challenged.

"Prove it!" I said on the edge of my seat.

He cleared his throat and began a perfect match…

"I'm 'a get a scholarship to King's College, I prob'ly shouldn't brag, but dag, I amaze and astonish! The problem is I got a lot of brains but no polish- I gotta holler just to be heard! With every word! I drop knowledge! I'm a-"

"Okay! Okay! We don't need to bring that awful rap out again…" I said with my face completely blushed in embarrassment.

"What are you talking about! That was amazing!" Peggy exclaimed and almost cheered. "You really can rap Alex! I don't know why you don't pursue in it!"

"Come on Pegs, you know why…" I trailed off.

"Stage fright?" She questioned through it wasn't really a question.

"Y... Yeah…" I stuttered.

"I don't understand how you stand to the side! For one, you're epic at it! And two you can stand on stage to rant about politics for six hours!" She complained again.

"That's-" She cut me off.

"What? Different? How? You speak that fast during debates, you may as well be rapping!"

I sighed actually questioned my own reasons… "Well for starters, you're doing it to a beat and a script. Plus, everybody's expecting somethings of you whereas in a debate, you are always going to get different opinions."

"I guess you make a good point…" She trailed off.

"Don't I always? Besides, that is my job, isn't it?" I smirked and we all laugh (something we had done a lot that night…)

"Well I think this should be our departure, mon amies." Laf stretched.

"Yeah, it's been fun!" Pegs giggled reaching for coat.

"Okay…" I could see John force a smile.

"Hey…" Laf reached over and embraced him in a hug, I could see his jaw move like he was whispering something inaudible, which made me wonder me wonder… _dearly_ …

"We'll see you soon… Yeah?" John sad to them both.

"Yeah." Peggy giggled.

The goodbyes were shared until they both left, leaving John and I truly alone for the first time today. The clock swung slowly throughout the quiet of the house. Penny had shuffled a bit on the carpet though other than those two things, the silence rang against our ears… It wasn't awkward at all, especially when I leant my head in the crook of his neck which took an advantage to fiddle with ends of my hair, arm draped around me.

"What did you think of that?" His words softly tickled my ear.

"Well, I think Eliza and Maria are going to be very happy, Herc now hates us both, never over sleep when Angie's around, Burr was even more nervous than we thought, Peggy will most likely set fire to Herc's house while he's sleeping, Laf is an absolutely legend, I still hate Thomas, we shouldn't take James so innocently and you're hiding something from me." I said looking back up at him on the last point.

"He breathed a small chuckle, "And what makes you think that?"

"The way you were talking to Laf and my father in private! The way everybody else seems to know something and most of all, your blushing! I haven't seen you blush in years!"

He gave out the same breathy chuckle but didn't respond to my points. "Why don't we take a walk?"

"Huh?" I asked with a confused smile.

"A late night, Christmas walk?" He stood up picking me up with him. He wrapped his arms around my shoulders and gazed down into my eyes. "Just you and I. No Penny. Just a lovely. Midnight walk to the park? What'd y' say?"

I smiled. "I'd love to Jacky."

"Good answer." He led me to the coat rack and we picked out the warmest winter gear we had. Penny was thankfully asleep so I didn't have to deal with her irresistible puppy dog eyes as we stood out the door.

Wow. This was even colder than last night. If cold was even the appropriate word. Even though he was curled around me, the chill still managed prick goose bumps along my spine. Every time we shivered, we tightly gripped around the bodies of each of our pacing beings. For what seemed like a lifetime, we had had a White Christmas so the ground crunched underneath our feet, leaving perfect footprints in the snow. Along the way, I stared up towards the sky to watch the stars fall out of the clear, cloud-cloudless sky as snowflakes, crisping our walk. The wind only slightly blew the chilly air towards our faces, making them as cold as ice. The air that was released from our mouths wasn't even transparent or foggy in any way, it seemed as if we breathed a solid cloud to the atmosphere. Little petals of snow only sprinkled atop our covered heads yet some latched onto loose hairs brushing against our padded shoulders. Every so often, one of us would slip on the ice road but was caught by a chuckling body of another under the moon shone sky.

We approached the high, metal gates of the park about fifteen minutes later as soon as the church bell signalled the arrival of midnight. In the park, it was crowded with towering, luscious trees- yet not with people… It was completely still.

 _Perfect._

The tall oak that had greeted us many times before, still swung with its thick branches, brushing against the night's sky. And also like many times before, we made our way towards the tree…

The snow kept falling calmly down on us both… the moon still stared… The solid iced pond glistened… and the stars still shone… In his eyes, he sparkled… but that wasn't the only thing that twinkled that night…

 _Oh my lord..._

He removed his gloves revealing his red-warm hands but took them in my own, a passion burning through his ember flecks…

 _Oh. My lord…_

It all made sense. The secrets. The laughs. The blushing. How did I not see it before?

 _Oh. My. Lord…_

"Alexander," He started with a word that fuzzed out everything around him… _except_ him… "I never thought that I would say this but… I thank Lafayette. _But_ I did know I'd say this… I thank him for setting us up at that bar, on that Friday night, seven years ago."

 _Is this what I think it is?_

"Ever since I lay my eyes upon you, before that night, my life was flipped into a new perspective. You wouldn't stop talking! You never stopped caring! You wouldn't stop protecting… You were so relentless to make things right- _not_ admitting _I_ was right." He smirked with the passion inside his eyes growing even hotter by the second.

"You were so loyal and respectful in every form I could think and even through all the hard times we pushed through together… along with a coffee in the morning…" The cold air around us began to swirl and aided a breathy chuckle from my throat with a smile aching my cheeks.

"At the start, we were shaky… and my family didn't help… But you still stood by my side and we both pulled through in the end. It was a long, terrifying climb but we reached the horizon... Together… And I wouldn't have it any other way… _You_ made my life compete. _You_ made me see good in everything around. _You_ changed me into someone I could feel proud of… My love has never burned out for you once… I never stopped loving you… _You never_ stopped loving me… You have already made me the happiest man alive… Now I hope to return the favour…"

My heart beat faster than it had ever done before in my chest. His eyes were _on fire_ , I could almost see the love hearts forming in them… or was that my own? His freckle dotted face became more vibrant in this moment, along with his hair traveling amongst the gusts of wind. Those same snowflakes kept dancing to us both, landing on our entwined hands… But soon those hands broke free… His little steps backwards made an almost inaudible crunch of the snow compared to my racing heartbeat. His figure began to bend towards the crisping, white ground until he was perched down before me… on one limb… one leg… He was perched down before me on _one knee_ …

 _Oh my lord…_

"Will you be mine forever more?"

The snow kept falling calmly down on us both… the moon still stared… The solid iced pond glistened… and the stars still shone… In his eyes, he sparkled… but that wasn't the only thing that twinkled that night… A black box was placed before my eyes… both his arms extended… Inside was a silver ring that shimmered brighter than the moon and stars did above me… His eyes gleamed with an irresistible blaze of fire adding more light to the dark, yet, stunning sky above… My eyes couldn't stop darting between him and the mentally-heavy box, finally settling on the former.

My mouth just wouldn't close…

"Will you, Alexander Hamilton… Will you marry me?"

 _And. My. Heart. Went. "BOOM"._

No words were enough. No gaze could tell the story. My hands clasped around my mouth was barely the tip of the iceberg. Not even the tears of pure happiness could express what I wanted to say. The impossible couldn't be said. _Nothing_ could express what my answer truly meant. It was only as if everything I thought my heart could contain was doubled at the brim and spilled across my vision. It was pumping buckets full of completely new emotion around my body- to many to process logically. I could only do one thing. A thing we both new all too well.

My body dropped down before him and before he had a chance to respond for a moment. The cold from our faces scattered elsewhere only feeling warmth from then on. I rammed my lips to his in falling snow. He swung his arms weight over my shoulders and pressed firm to my lips in return.

No words were enough. No gaze could tell the story. My lips clasped around his mouth was only the tip of the iceberg. Not even the tears of pure happiness steaming down both our faces could express what we wanted to say.

"I love you." Was what all I could say.

 ** _I_** used to stand alone before he brought colour to my life, the reason I was who I am today. From this point, he had just opened a new spectrum of opportunities. A future. The butterfly that was captivated in my chest had fully flown towards the sky freeing an array of beauty- of **_love_** \- to the world above. My flower had blossomed from a dainty bud seven years ago, to who I was today all because of **_you_** , John. We had matched up every single emotion together despite all differences and struggles… We had stood together against tsunamis and meteorites life had thrown our way. And those disasters soon had to crash… Even if that rock hurtling from the sky would be aiming for me, he'd jump in line of shot with me… And **_I_** would do the same… Even if those dilemmas blocked out the sun, our **_love_** saw us through to the end… Even if we got out damaged… **_You_** still stuck by… And **_I_** would still stick by, still deep in **_love_** with **_you_**.

Because, John Laurens, **_I Love You_**. Not ' _loved'_ … **_Love_** … Because for eternity my heart belonged to you…

 _That's_ what I wanted to say. But it was too much to but past the gates of my lips.

"So, is that a yes?" He had a smile erupting a beacon from his face.

"Yes! It's a yes! Yes I'll marry you John Laurens! I wouldn't have it any other way!"

Our foreheads pressed together in a rush, with our tears of joy painting the others cheek. He removed my right glove to slip the silver ring to a perfect fit on my finger. I gazed down upon it with the smile not planning to depart anytime soon, planting another firm kiss to his chilled lips. The white clouds between us merged when we ended its short but just as (or even more so) meaningful message, in love-struck laughs. I left my glove off while he pulled me from the floor kissing again as soon as we were stable from the ice.

"Shall we head home, _Mr. A. Laurens_?" He smirked offering his hand for me to pleasurably grip onto.

"We shall, _Mr. J. Laurens_." I returned the goofy grin.

Our arms linked back up the path, our heads in the crook of each other's neck.

The tall oak waved goodbye, still swinging with its thick branches, brushing against the night's sky.

The snow kept falling calmly down on us both- none the same as what they were before… the moon still stared- except stared down upon a new kind of love… The solid iced pond glistened- ending up in the distance… And the stars still shone… Lighting up his eyes that sparkled, and the new twinkling, silver ring around my finger… his hands clasped around them in the comforting winters chills of the night…

 _My Jack._

 **Authors Note:** **You have NO idea how much time I have spent on this! That proposal scene? OVER THREE FREAKING HOURS! The Truth or Dare scenes? OVER TWO! FOR JUST A SCCCEEENNNEE! (scene).**

 **Annnyyywwayyy…. I did love writing this! It was just too fluffy for this world! Alex and John are waayyy too adorable for this world!**

 **I really want to thank the only reviewer on my story** ** _'Pluvia-Drop14'_** **! I guess you were right ;)!**

 **So I'm not saying this is the end. I might do an epilogue and some behind the scenes work but this was only meant to be a one off! My main story I'm focussing on is** ** _'I'm Throwing Away My Shot'_** **if you want to check out that one :D**

 **But anyway… PLEASE REVIEW THIS! Constructive if you can xx**

 **Well I hope to update soon!**

 **-L.E-Rae _x_**


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